Above 1200 Sq/FT Wheels Down Workshop - Tejas Hill Country

[macnugget]

Long-time forum lurker, but I've never really had enough space to post anything. I recently bought a new place out in the Tejas hill country which will become a workshop for my race car and various maker/home automation hobbies and I thought it warranted a thread to document the build out. My new home features an aircraft hangar (and associated heliport) which I've just begun to build out. Its an absolutely absurd space that has fallen into a bit of disrepair and neglect. I think I'll be able to turn it into something truly amazing, especially once I'm living out at the property full time closer to the end of the year.

The workshop is a 70' x 70' aircraft hangar built out to include two internal rooms/offices, a loft, and a bathroom. The previous owner had been using it as a homeschool classroom and play area for his grandkids. It hasn't been an operational heliport for quite a few years (although it still has a valid airport code).



Once we got the place all emptied out, my first step was getting an epoxy floor laid down



This has improved things immeasurably!



Next up, moving my tools and 4 post lift from my tiny Houston garage. I've also got some cabinets/toolboxes on order which will hopefully be arriving next month.

 

[ned911]

This is awesome. Would have loved to have found that property!!! For the same reasons - gotta work on the race car and other projects.

 

[MacTexas]

What a nice space. Do you race the Porsche?

 

[txvwnut]

Nothing like a big 'ol hangar to make a tiny sprite look smaller.

 

[macnugget]

What a nice space. Do you race the Porsche?

Thanks! My wife and I are both HPDE enthusiasts and do a lot of recreational track days and instructing. The only wheel-to-wheel we do is in much cheaper cars than the Porsche (Lemons and Chump Car).

Nothing like a big 'ol hangar to make a tiny sprite look smaller.

Not everything is bigger in Texas!

 

[ned911]

Spec944 here

Thinking of going back to vintage racing in a 914.

 

[jbrentd]

That is quite a space! It doesn't look to be in too bad of shape. Nearly 5k sf of air conditioned space...one could get spoiled with that. Congratulations!

 

[RoninB4]

Used to live in Lockhart and worked up the road from New Braunfels, been in the Hill Country many times. Nice looking shop that should be large enough for a while. Congratulations.

 

[macnugget]

Thinking of going back to vintage racing in a 914.

One of the big upsides of our new place is that we're a lot closer to H2R!

Fun week last week, although more focused on the homelab and internet than the garage. We rented the rock saw again in order to dig the trenches to run fiber optic cable from the main house to the stable and then on to the workshop buildings. We'd tried to get this done last month, but ran into some setbacks (broken conduit that we thought we'd be able to use). This week's attempt was a resounding success, though, and now I've got good connectivity, internet, and WiFi in all three buildings.

First up, we used a scissor lift to install a cellular booster into the hangar. Without this booster it was basically impossible to receive calls and texts when standing inside the metal building. Now with the booster we get 5 bars of 5g on all carriers. (It's a WeBoost Complete. No affiliation, just happy with the results. I've never used a product like this before and it exceeded my expectations). Then we got started with the rock saw (that's my step-dad driving in the picture, but we all took a turn)...



The trenching was mostly uneventful, although we had to cross pavement in two places which will mean some asphalt patching in the future. I'd rather have internet than indoor plumbing, so it was a no-brainer decision.

Fiber loop pulled into the hangar workshop room and a temporary switch is set up now. Everything's pinging, but there's a lot more still to do. Ultimately this will be a different switch and I plan to mount a 19" equipment rack on the wall to hold everything. It's enough for now though...




I also placed the order for the two post lift and to get the four post moved from our old place. That should all be installed in a few weeks. Still no word on expected delivery of the toolboxes, but hopefully in the next month.

 

[eastmtn]

I've had a WeBoost at the house ever since we moved in a couple of years ago. Like you, if I hadn't installed it there would be 0 signal. I use a carrier specific network extender as primary but when the power and/or internet goes out the WeBoost pulls in and boosts a 4G signal from a tower at a considerable distance away so the security system and cell phones still work.

I'm not involved in crypto or datacenters at all but I do appreciate the tech and try to learn when I can. Thanks for the posts.

 

[macnugget]

Today I mounted a dry erase board, hung our kayaks on the wall above the equipment room, and mounted some Akro-Mils panels for hanging parts bins on the walls. I also got a call from the freight company informing me that the toolboxes and cabinets will arrive on Monday, so that's exciting! That will be a fun project for next week.

 

[nicholsmf]

Wow. I'm jealous! Congrats!

 

[macnugget]

Small update, I've been focused on the fiber optics and internet mostly, but I have been able to put some time into the garage this week.

About 80% of the tool cabinets arrived and I've started the process of building and installing them against the far wall in the hangar. We were thwarted by the sheer weight of the two larger 1540mm cabinets, though. These things are just so damn heavy that even with all of us leaning into it, we couldn't manage to lift them off the palettes to place them.

After a few minutes of contemplation (which as usual took us a few hours) we figured we could use the tractor with forks and some ratchet straps to lift them and then position them for placement. The operation went smoothly, we almost looked like we knew what we were doing.



Still waiting on a few more cabinets and most of the uppers, but this unblocks me for leveling and putting what I've got to good use. I can use the storage space already!

 

[macnugget]

I still haven't really figured out the weather patterns for our property here. There's a lot of forecast rain that we never seem to get here. I wanted to get better local weather measurements so I can start paying closer attention to the conditions and maybe develop a better sense of what to expect each day.

I picked up an Ambient Weather WS-5000 and mounted the sensor array on top of the roof. Also added a lightning sensor and a soil moisture sensor. I'm really looking forward to monitoring the new data and also incorporating conditions into my home/shop automation.



I also finished building out the tool cabinets that I've received so far (still no word on when to expect the remainder of the order). I only have a selection of my tools here, many still live at my old house, but it feels great to get things more organized and orderly here. All tool placement is just a work in process, I expect things will move around a lot as I start to figure out the flow of the space and what projects we start working on. For now, though, things are great for what we're doing. I've got two rolling carts for tire maintenance and general automotive work. I filled up one of them with Sonic MSS foam tool packs and this will be the "community" tools for whenever I have friends over to wrench on their cars. The other one has a small compressor and a variety of tire and wheel related tools (spare valve stem caps, etc).



And then lastly, the main bank of toolboxes which is only partly built but is functional enough to hold things.



Expecting to get the lifts delivered and installed on Thursday. Then I'll be at least as well-equipped as I was at the old house and should be unblocked working on the cars.

 

[macnugget]

Some tech and decorative updates. I continue to experiment with these Akro-Mils bins and custom front labels. I added a few more screws and washers and printed up some corresponding labels this afternoon. I've run into a discrepancy with how to handle fractional screw lengths. There are several options and I'm undecided which works best.

* 1 1/2"
* 1.5"
* 1 ½"

I don't like any of them and I'm using a combination of all of them right now. I think I just need to let it simmer a bit and see how they all work in practice. Eventually I'm going to print these on cardstock and automate their creation/generation, but for now I'm making too many tweaks to immortalize anything.



I put up a WiFi porter NFC/QR Code so that guests and visitors can easily get their devices onto the WiFi. This is particularly useful because cell phone coverage out here isn't all that great. I love these little wood plaques, I use paperweight style ones in my house. But for the garage this makes more sense. QR Code is mangled in the photo for privacy.



I also bought a set of corner worker flags which I plan to hang up against the back wall (over the toolboxes). They came folded up, though, and are creased. I hung them up lower so I can see if they'll flatten out a bit. If not, I'll try to iron them flatter. Once they're unfolded and smoother I'll mount them permanently. I'd originally planned to mount curtain rods or something to hang them, but then I had the bright idea to just use magnets on the steel beams. Tiny neodymium button magnets are plenty strong to hold the flags up on the wall.

 

[macnugget]

Leveled up today! Moved the 4 post lift from the old house and got the 2 post installed. It's exciting to be unblocked on a lot of deferred car maintenance. Looking forward to getting the Miata track-worthy again and get the GT3 all dialed in after a few years of storage and neglect during COVID.

 

[samb]

Superb space, thanks for sharing thus far.

 

[macnugget]

After a few distractions we've made some great progress on the workshop space. The remainder of the tool cabinets arrived which we placed and built with the help of the tractor again. It's gratifying to see it all put together finally. Now that the end cabinets and rolling cabinets are in place I'll be moving tools around to new drawers and re-labeling so that the appropriate tools are in the two rolling carts for maximal utility. Here's how it all looks today:





I bolted some magnetic feet onto my Battery Tender so I could easily stick it to the top of the tall cabinet by the back door. Then I put some colored cable flags on the charger and the cable ends so that it's easy to see which car is plugged in to which bank:


I also mounted a metal power strip to the back of the workbench:


The workshop has reached sufficient utility that we've already knocked out some projects that have been "on the list" for too long already. New steering rack in the Miata, track prep for the GT3, and tuned the carbs in the Sprite so it can run better in this cold weather. On the whole I couldn't be happier with how everything is coming together.

 

[macnugget]

Seating and A/V improvements this week, leading up to my official garage-warming party this Saturday. If anyone is near the Tejas hill country (Spring Branch/Bulverde) you're welcome to join us on Saturday for some light wrenching (you bring the project and parts, I supply the tools and lifts). Planning to smoke some brisket and maybe make some chili as well, depending on turnout. PM me if you're interested.

Follow along our tunes at https://www.last.fm/user/WheelsDown



First up, I got some Vyper chairs, basically one of each size to see how they work out. I'm super-impressed, these things are overbuilt nine ways to Sunday. I'll probably add a few more just so we have good options for visitors:



Bought a black friday sale TV from Best Buy and mounted it to the tool cabinets, plus I wired up a Thunderbolt 4 dock so that it's convenient to plug in a laptop to the system. Long-term I plan to repurpose an older home theater receiver I have hooked up at my old house, but for now I dug out an old DAC to drive speakers off the optical output from the TV. Plus some old studio monitors I used to have on my deskop PC in Houston. It's definitely enough for now, but ultimately looking for something more flexible.



Lastly, the Cayenne was due for an oil change and DEF refresh. This shop is turning into a real joy for working on the cars!

 

[onsail]

I'm liking the 2-tone floor, and of course the rest of it.

 

[ovscrider]

great space

 

[macnugget]

Small updates for January, the main house and livestock have been occupying most of our focus recently. In the workshop I've been experimenting with addressable LED strips, working towards some accent lighting to put around the workbench. Still early though, figuring out the WLED software and how to best control the lights from Home Assistant.

One cool thing I did do was rig up a web scraper to check my county fire marshal's website and see if there's currently a burn ban in effect for my area. I have a Philips Hue LED lamp that I set up with my home automation to illuminate orange whenever the burn ban is active:




I also installed an Apple CarPlay daughterboard to my aging 2015 Cayenne to bring its entertainment system more up to date. I love everything about the truck except for the ancient radio, I think this upgrade bought me another 8 years of driving before I get wandering eyes for a replacement.



And lastly, we added two more cars to the fleet. A new convertible road trip car and a new project/track car for my wife:

 

[Imatk]

Wow... nice man. Love the color of the Ferrari.

 

[macnugget]

Wow... nice man. Love the color of the Ferrari.

Thanks, the color is called "Verde Silverstone" and it's a heritage color from the '90s. It was a launch color for the F355 back in the day. I think it really suits the GT cruiser Portofino.

 

[Vicdog]

Awesome! You staying warm today?

 

[macnugget]

We're doing great, enough propane in the tanks to last us a year at least. The longhorns are hearty animals, even the newborn (10 days old today). They seem completely unphased. But we've got a bunch of tree limbs down and everything's encased in ice. Definitely unusual!

Supposed to be sunny and 72F (22C) by Sunday.

 

[loganb]

Just found this one, awesome place and great cars...congrats! The progress so far is very impressive and looking forward to see what more you do with it!

 

[ODIS]

Nicely done, Sir!

What fun you must be having with a ton of space to grow into.

Have keen interest in home automation but have yet to do anything there and your thread will be more than interesting to follow along for this aspect alone. Will also be fun to watch the other hobbies you have as well.

JD, F-Cars, P-Cars, Old Cars, nice comfortable space in which to store them and to work on them, is my kind of fun.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[macnugget]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. To whatever degree I've been able to build out a cool space it's from ideas I've gotten from the threads here. I owe this community a lot. I'm just happy to finally have a reason to start a thread myself.

 

[macnugget]

A handful of minor changes and improvements from the past month...

I cannibalized the home theater from my old house and set up a nice Denon receiver and some speakers (along with a giant subwoofer). I added some zigbee buttons to automate all the A/V so I can just hit a single button to power everything up and start playing tunes:



We titled and registered both the new cars. The road tripper "MIGLIA" and my wife's track car "GTWHEE":



I got an exhaust extractor fan so we can run cars inside the hangar without having to open the entire hangar door for ventilation:

 

[Swanny1953]

How about a link for the exhaust extractor?

 

[macnugget]

You bet! The unit I bought is a "FumeCaddie™ Light Duty - with Dual Internal Grabber® Nozzles" from Plymovent, which I purchased directly. I placed the order way back in November and it just arrived last week, so I'm not sure what their production schedule/delivery timeline is, but I'm very impressed by the build quality and usability.

 

[Jayman17]

Great looking shop and cars. I know absolutely nothing about cattle, are those longhorn cattle aggressive? Can a person walk among them? Those horns look troubling....

 

[Boostingaz]

Awesome stuff here. Real nice job on everything so far. Nice and clean, love it.

Also you just made me spend $120 on power strips I have been needing a few and saw yours and like them.

I also really want to Google and check out that Vyper chair but you already made me spend money once so I'm resisting.

 

[macnugget]

There hasn't been much to report from the garage all summer. Most of my focus has been on the house and not the garage.

We've been wrenching on the GT3s, swapped out a leaky steering rack on the NC Miata, and have put 14,000 miles on the Ferrari in road trips.

We got everything all cleaned up for yesterday, though, when we hosted the local Bluebonnet Miata Club for their annual tech day. All told I think we had 30 Miatas show up to the property and people were using both lifts and wrenching on their cars for most of the day. It was a great time!

I didn't stop to take nearly enough photos, but I did grab a few earlier in the morning...

 

[macnugget]

It's been a while since I posted an update. The workshop has been great. We've held another Miata tech day and have another one scheduled for this fall. It's been a great space to work on all the cars, which has ramped up as we've started to get more active at the race track again.

Late last year I got a Tesla solar setup installed with panels on the roof and three Powerwall battery units in the hangar. The batteries can't keep the A/C going for long, but I'm effectively off-grid as long as its sunny out and I'll never not be able to open that big hangar door, which was a little bit worrisome previously. It's all hooked into the home automation, which is great.



A bought a metal sign from from a guy in town who "liberated it" off the classroom building at TWS when they were dismantling the track to build tract homes. It fits in great. Then I hung an authentic German Autobahn sign near the bathroom (purchased, not liberated).



I bought a new canvas top for the Sprite, but before I can fit the new top I need to get the windscreen sorted out with new seals. The old rubber seal seems to be original and it's completely rigid and brittle now. Every few days I spend a half hour scraping and cleaning trying to get the surface prepped to put the windshield frame back onto the car. It's a process...



My wife put a purple wrap on her GT3 and yesterday we did oil changes and brake flushes to all the track cars in advance of an upcoming COTA weekend.

 

[macnugget]

And lastly, the little calf Macchaito who was 10 days old in post 26 is now a healthy and happy steer. Here he is in the background of a rare "behind the hangar" photo with his momma Georgia